davis alluded to, the reason he is in new york and booktv is back here in washington, dc is because of sandy. we had some studio issues, so a little patched together for this "in depth." mr. davis, your most recent "don't know much about" book is don't know much about the american presidents. you talk about a couple of elections. i want to look at the election of 1800 and then the election of james k. polk versus henry clay, and you talk about how vicious they were. is today's election, the turn one we're in, vicious compared to the ones we talk about? >> guest: actually, no. it's probably more gentle by comparison if you look another some of the things said. for instance, going back even further to 1796, the first contested election, when john adams and thomas jefferson, the compatriots 20 years earlier who combined to bring the declaration of independence into being were now fierce political rivals. they maintained a friendship of sorts as jefferson served as adams' vice president, which was the result of the way presidents and vice presidents were elected back then. something that changed